AD-VILS: Implementation and Reliability Validation of Vehicle-in-the-Loop Simulation Platform for Evaluating Autonomous Driving Systems

Abstract

Vehicle-in-the-loop simulation (VILS) is a vehicle-testing technique that integrates high-fidelity simulation environments with real-world vehicles. Among existing simulation approaches for evaluating autonomous driving systems (ADS), VILS is particularly noteworthy because it faithfully reflects the dynamic characteristics of real-world vehicles and ensures repeatable and reproducible testing in diverse virtual scenarios. While researchers strive to implement a VILS platform that closely approximates real-world vehicle-testing environments, the performance of vehicles in VILS testing may differ from that observed in real-world testing, depending on the platform’s reliability. Therefore, methods must be established to validate the reliability of VILS platforms. Herein, we present the essential components of a VILS platform for evaluating ADS (AD-VILS) and propose a metho dology to validate the reliability of the implemented AD-VILS platform. This methodology includes scenario definition, techniques for VILS testing and real-world vehicle testing, and procedures for evaluating consistency and correlation based on statistical and mathematical comparisons between the datasets from virtual and real-world tests. Moreover, we empirically derive reliability evaluation criteria through iterative testing. This methodology aims to enhance the precision and reliability of ADS evaluations conducted on AD-VILS platforms.

Keywords

• Vehicle-in-the-loop simulation (VILS)
• autonomous driving
• autonomous vehicle
• validation methodology
• vehicle test
• virtual simulation